“The very real danger of an even greater escalation hangs over the region. The council must publicly denounce terrorism."

NEW YORK – Ambassador to the UN Ron Prosor sent a stern letter to the current president of the Security Council, Rwanda’s Ambassador Eugène-Richard Gasana, and to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, denouncing Hamas’s actions in the region and calling on the council to denounce them.

“The Security Council has an obligation to unequivocally condemn Hamas before it is too late,” Prosor wrote on Monday. “The very real danger of an even greater escalation hangs over the region. The council must publicly denounce terrorism and call on [Palestinian Authority] President [Mahmoud] Abbas to dissolve the [Fatah-Hamas] unity government before the situation further deteriorates.”

Israel “will not tolerate” further aggression and it is the Israeli government’s duty to put a stop to the attacks, Prosor wrote. “In a single hour earlier today [Monday], Hamas and other terrorists fired over 65 rockets toward homes, schools and hospitals – that is one rocket per minute. Over the weekend, Israel offered Hamas a cease-fire and was met with hundreds of rockets in exchange. Those who target Israelis with terrorism will pay a very heavy price.”

Prosor asked that the letter be distributed as an official document of the Security Council. A spokesman for the Rwandan mission to the UN told the Post that the letter had been circulated within the council and that Israel would have a chance to raise the issue at the next set of consultations on the Middle East, on July 22.

A spokesman for the UN secretary-general told reporters that Abbas had handed a letter to Robert Serry, the UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, in which he requested an international investigation into the death of 16-year-old east Jerusalem resident, Muhammad Abu Khdeir. The secretary- general had not yet read the letter, the spokesman said.